FPSO, Floating Production Storage and Offloading vessel for the Jubilee Field and sub sea FPSO production facilities diagram from a presentation at Kosmos Energy

For awhile there was not much published, but in the last couple of months there have been new stories posted almost daily, sometimes several times per day. Many of these stories are taken from various media in Ghana. That makes Reporting Oil and Gas a very useful tool for collecting and following the stories on oil development in Ghana. At the end of each story the blog provides the link to the original source. This news blog is still in its early stages, but I hope it continues and expands. It is quite useful and much needed.

Ghana is considering setting up a sovereign wealth fund to channel surplus revenues from oil production, which are due to start rolling later this year, Finance Minister Kwabena Duffuor has said.

“We have held a couple of meetings already it’s something we’ re seriously working towards and we hope to put the proposals before Cabinet in about a month,” Dr. Duffuor said in an interview with Reuters.

He said if Cabinet backs the proposals, a bill will then be drafted for consideration by parliament, Duffuor said.

The Finance Minister gave no details of the size of the possible fund. But a Ghanaian government source close to discussions on the matter said it will be largely shaped by the size of oil revenues.
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The source noted that it was not certain that the fund would be given the green light, noting an alternative option-investing in key domestic infrastructure project was also under discussion.

Ghana, the world’s number two cocoa producer and Africa’s second –biggest gold miner after South Africa expects to starts oil production late this year when its offshore Jubilee energy field starts operation.

The case for the economic and political significance of oil funds remains very bleak. It is now argued by some economists that oil funds are no more effective than other measures for mitigating the threats of Dutch Disease.
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… the country needs accountability, openness and transparency to defeat the resource. And what makes these three pillars meaningful in any democratic dispensation? Ghana ought to rejuvenate its institutions and governance structures to solve the paradox of plenty.

Most importantly, regulatory and legal framework in the oil and gas sector and in managing the oil fund should be made operational. Would Ghana have the capacity to enforce the laws that would govern the oil industry?
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The statement by the Deputy Minister of Energy, Emmanuel Armah-Kofi Buah, that the Ministry of Energy would oversee the disbursement of funds in the “Oil and Gas Business Development and Local Content Fund” leaves much to be desired. Here, it is definitely the adherence to the political disincentives in the country where virtually the executive wields leverage even over parliament. This situation would allow public spending for personal gains. Ideally, the role to oversee and monitor the disbursement of funds should solely be assigned to an independent oversight body and parliament respectively. Parliament should exercise the authority of debating, approving and scrutinizing petroleum agreements, government transactions in and out of the oil fund.

Concerning the role of civil society organizations, there is a seemingly brighter step since Ghana is blessed with vibrant groups that are always in place to have a say in government decisions. But in the context of the oil sector, are civil society groups empowered enough to meet the difficult challenges ahead? It is worthy of note that an oil fund with small number of actors operating in nontransparent and poorly linked manner would encourage misappropriation and abuse of power. The outcome of the issue here is that limited roles of CSOs mean that the tool for ensuring transparency and openness in the oil sector is made ineffective. The Extractive Industries Transparency Initiative (EITI) is the best medium that can enjoin the role many actors, from government representative to civil society organizations.

Again, what is always significant is for the ordinary Ghanaian to be educated and made informed of what goes on in the oil and gas sector. This is to clamp down on possible uncontrolled grievances that may cause revolts.

The World Bank in a programme is giving the country an amount of $30 million for training to build capacity for the industry.
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Diwan said the Bank was embarking on an “ambitious programme to train Ghanaians in the universities, financial institutions, for taxation and management” to prepare the country to be in a position to manage the oil resources.
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This development has given hope to many observers who believe that the discussions are an opportunity to lead the country to develop a sound plan on how to manage the oil and to avoid the problems that many oil-rich African countries are going through presently.

I doubt any plan of the World Bank will help avoid the oil curse. The pattern of the World Bank and the IMF is to tear down any responsible government institutions with structural adjustment programs, leaving countries at the mercy of predatory global capitalism, without any institutional defense system. This is largely the point of structural adjustment programs. Ghana has already suffered and continues to suffer from loss of personel in the public sector due to structural adjustments, preventing the government from carrying out its responsibilities to the people of Ghana.

Reporting Oil and Gas is very simple in design and only puts two or three stories on a page. This is smart design, as it makes it much more useful in Ghana where there are not so many high speed connections to the internet. And Ghana is where this information is really needed.

International Business Event Management Ghana Limited, in collaboration with the Ghana Investment Promotion Centre (GIPC) and other stakeholders, is to host a multi-sectoral conference in March, this year, for potential investors to the Ghanaian business terrain.

The conference, dubbed: “Investing and Growing Your Business in Ghana- Challenges and Opportunities (IGB-Ghana 2010), follows the launch of the International Business Event Management Ghana Limited (IBEM-Gh. Ltd) on January 13, this year, in Lagos
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“IGB Ghana 2010 conference will not only present a unique business networking opportunity for participants but would also provide the opportunity to meet and deliberate with service providers, government regulators, development partners, law firms, government agencies, ministries, Ghana Chamber of commerce and financial institutions,” he stated.
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Mr. Ampah said:” the conference is bringing together manufacturers from Africa, Europe, Asia, and thee United States, adding that regional and multi-national corporate bodies, gas companies, embassies, banks and financial institutions as well as private sector operators would participate in the conference.”

Shedding some light on the launching event in Lagos, Mr. Ampah said many investors expressed their interest in investing in Ghana but expressed the need for regular power supply to avoid disruptions in their operations.

Irregular power supply is a huge handicap to businesses in Ghana, and to doing business in Ghana. It can make many activities and transactions impossible. It would be nice to see some progress to solving the problem.

There is one thing I hope Reporting Oil and Gas adds to their stories, and that is the name of the original author, if it is available. They do link to the original story, so it is possible to find who wrote a story if the author is named, but it would be nice to bring that information into the stories at Reporting Oil and Gas. Nevertheless Reporting Oil and Gas performs a valuable service well, and I recommend it to your attention.

The subsea equipment required for the production of oil from the Jubilee Oil Fields off the coast of Ghana in the Western region, have begun arriving in the country.

A statement issued in Accra and signed by the Communications Manager of Tullow Ghana Limited, Mr. Gayheart Mensah, said, “this is a strong indication that the operator of the Jubilee Field, Tullow Ghana Limited, is ready to produce first oil from the Jubilee Field by the last quarter of this year.”

An equipment known as “The Christmas Tree,” which is an assembly of control valves, gauges, pipes, chokes and fittings and which is installed on the ocean floor, is used to control oil and gas flow from a completed well.

The statement said that the Sekondi Naval Base and the Takoradi Port have been the main entry points for the equipment, adding that before the vessels carrying the equipment set sail for Ghana, a team from Tullow Ghana Limited visited some of the companies contracted by the Jubilee Partners to manufacture subsea structures for the project.
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According to the statement, the oil discovery in the Jubilee Oil Fields has come with “expectations among Ghanaians that the oil find should transform Ghana’s economy and spin off jobs immediately. These are huge expectations that need to be managed.”

The statement is confident, “with the level of technology deployed by Tullow Ghana Limited, the operator of the Jubilee Oil Fields and the quality of personnel working on the project, the target date of producing first oil by the last quarter of this year will be met.”